Lesson Twenty six
The Sweetness of Faith
The holy Prophet (cpth) said: "Three things shelter man and give him the sweetness of faith: To merely love God and His Prophet (cpth), to love man only for the sake of God and hate to return to disbelief after being saved from it by God as he hates to be thrown in the Hellfire" reported by Anas...
The explanation of some terms:
- Get the sweetness of faith: It refers to that happiness and satisfaction which a pure believer finds in his heart.
- Merely love them: Meaning, to attach his heart only to God and His Prophet (cpth).
- Disbelief: Meaning, refusing God’s Commands and or not caring or paying attention for God’s favours and His benevolence.
- Saved: Meaning, save him from evils.
Detailed explanation of the noble hadith
In this noble hadith, the holy Prophet (cpth) has given clear roles for someone to disclose himself and motivate it to reach the stage of sweet heart and happiness. The first thing indicated by the noble hadith is the love of God and His Prophet (cpth). If this love is realized, the rest of the two will automatically be. And the exalted feeling of goodness and mercy will start growing and increasing continuously making you comfortable with happy heart. That is the meaning of the phrase – ‘get the sweetness of faith’. And how can this love be got? Love comes after faith or true belief... and Belief is the base of the love of worship. This Holy love attained through thinking of this wide universe as seen in the interpretation of Am’ma Part, which stated the obligation of looking and thinking of all the provisions given to us by God, both in and around us and its permanence. For instance, if man eats a delicious food, he will enjoy it by feeling its good taste with his tongue due to the presence of the taste organs in it, and that will make him be happy and satisfied. Who has made it so? The thinking will make someone know that God is there. He does not leave him alone, He is the Provider of all good things like happiness, favours, etc. then we will fully turn our hearts to Him alone in Worship. Why is the love of God associated with the love of the Prophet (cpth)? This is because he is the one who guides us to this thinking, shows the right way and brought the Holy Qur’an to us, so we have to attach him with passion owing to the fact that he is the cause of our belief in God (glory to Him).
When a man becomes a true believer loving the Almighty Al’lah and His Prophet (cpth), then how will his duty become? You will realise that he will never be working only for his personal interest but mostly for the interest of others. You will see him helping others only for the sake of God so long as God loves people as He loves him. So, he realizes that he must himself help all mankind seeking to please only God. And that is what this part of hadith "And love man only for the sake of God" stands for.
A believer knows that, this world is a school of efforts and good work for an everlasting happy life later in Paradise. So, he should never miss any good, even good word to others so as to be highly rewarded by God on the day of judgement. Meanwhile bad word will lead to a severe hard judgement coupled with punishment on that day. He, who truly loves God, listens to His words (Qur’an),applies it perfectly and also loves the Holy prophet (cpth) for guiding him to those rejoicing favours. You realise that if he is commanded to do anything that is contrary to the word of God he will bitterly refuse with a great fear of God. For example, if he is asked to mix with girls playing, discussing, joking and laughing with them that, this girl is like his sister and all the like, he will never accept to do so, because that act is contrary to the holy Qur’an. As he also fears to lose the witness of his faith and the happiness he finds in his heart and does not want to exchange Paradise for hell fire as the disbelievers in God do. He also avoids bad friends who may guide him to evil that their effect will be severe on him due to the Anger of God. And his dwelling place will be hell fire where he will abide in forever. That is the meaning of the noble saying: "And hate to return in disbelief after been saved from by God as he hates to be thrown in the hell fire" .
Generally, that is how a true believer has to adhere to the commands of God and go not against them, after realising His mercy, Compassion and favours onto him. He should have full confidence in these commands i.e. both forbidden and unforbidden, and the footsteps of His holy Prophet (cpth) our saviour through his guidance to the truth. If all these are realised, he will have a calm mind, happiness and the sweetness of belief.